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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Strategic planning is a growing area in marketing. Not just ad agencies are doing strategy nowadays; both shopper marketing, BTL and digital agencies are putting a "why" behind their actions, which is great. But it gets me wondering: are we planning too much? Is it really necessary?

There is a
lot of information, interesting facts and so called insights out there, but
what we are really looking for are the revelations. Most times it´s the
juicy dark secrets - that don´t tell us how much the consumer loves the product,
but rather what the client doesn´t want to hear or be confronted with – that leads
us right.

Through my side business as
a coach, helping people with personal relationships, I´ve seen how often we say
one thing and mean another; how we are complex and how we want a lot of things
at the same time, whether they can be combined or not. I´ve learned that we self
sabotage and can hurt others in order to be loved. We are confused and
wonderful, lost and found. There are so many layers. Quant studies just can´t
see them; they only become visible when the tea is finished...

But sometimes a marketer
doesn´t need to know it all. How deep should we dig; perhaps intuition alone
will give birth to the idea that takes us to the south of France in June? Just
by being sensitive to trends and what other brands do - and out of that cook up
something fun - creative people can do miracles to a brand´s health. It´s not
always important to psychoanalyse the target audience to sell ice cream to them
J

Or is it...? You need to put
the simplest of products into a life. How can it be relevant for the consumer
as a person, not an ice cream eater? To get there you have to get to know
people well. From different angles.

Too often I see how
marketing managers as part of a brief give you research where every quote is
happy and cheerful about the brand. Lalalala! That doesn´t really help, does
it? If everyone is mad about the product already, no need to do a campaign at
all, right? I´d rather know what is stopping people from buying what you try to
sell. What´s the hurdle, the bump on the road? As in coaching, where we look
at: 1. People´s big dreams, 2. What is blocking them from getting there
(internally and externally). 3. Steps to take to get past hurdles and reach
dreams.

Still... Are planners over
complicating things? Are we too intrigued by the human psyche to be affordable?
A client once said to me “We don´t need to know too much about the target, we
just need to come up with some cool shit!”. Perhaps that´s the truth? Are all
the wandering around in people´s minds, sipping tea with them to discover their
inner dreams and fears, a waste of time? Who can go to India for two decades
anymore when it´s pitching time and we´ve got an hour to come up with a million
dollar idea?

I guess you need to balance.
Be curious and open, ask questions and listen to the answers (and not just base
every strategy on YOUR own dreams), but also realise you can´t save the world
with an ice cream ad – so dare to be banal. Strategists need to avoid the
temptation of finding out Everything, to go further than research and
psychology, into the action part of the creative brief, because if the deep
insightful consumer insight doesn´t evolve into a smash hit campaign it´s
simply a bed time story, putting the brand to sleep...

Is there a formula on how much why is needed for a how and a what? God
knows... Or do you? :)

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Hi, My name is Carolin. I am a strategic planner who specialise in emotional branding and understanding consumers on a deep level; by revealing what is driving them, stopping them, making them relax or get scared, what they love or hate. I´m passionate about the power of influence, how we can use what we know about psychology and other sciences to influence and inspire people with effective campaigns that really touches the heart and build sustainable relationships between people and brands.

This blog is about marketing, advertising, strategy, PR, planning, business and consumer insights, research and the phsychology of influence. Comments and emails are very welcome! I would love to get your feed-back.

I work as a strategic planner at the best ad agency Stockolm has to offer :)